Sergio Marchionne becomes Ferrari’s CEO

The Italian supercar maker said it hit better than expected first quarter results, while it also announced it has named Sergio Marchionne as the company’s new CEO.

Sergio Marchionne’s appointment comes after the former chief executive Amedeo Felisa decided to retire after it spent 26 years at Ferrari. Therefore, Marchionne is now in charge of both Fiat Chrysler and Ferrari, where he holds the Chairman position as well. The Italian supercar carmaker, which spun off from FCA at the start of the year, also announced brand’s first quarter results, a time frame in which net revenues reached 675 million euros (780.9 million dollars), a 54-million-euro jump over the same period last year. After it initially forecasted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization of 770 million euros at the end of this year, Ferrari now raised its expectations to least 800 million euros of EBITDA on deliveries of more than 7,900 vehicles.

Last year, the Maranello-based brand sold 7,664 units, up 6 percent from the previous one, while from January to March 2016 it shipped 1,882 units, a solid 15 percent boost. This performance was driven by a 21 percent increase in sales of Ferrari’s 8 cylinder models, led by the success of the two newly launched 488 GTB and 488 Spider. At the Detroit Auto Show, Marchionne said that Ferrari plans to soon raise the production bar, targeting to reach to around 9,000 units per year in 2019.